


Don't

by P_lutonium



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Declarations Of Love, Marriage, Multi, True Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-14
Updated: 2015-06-14
Packaged: 2018-04-04 08:52:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4131571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/P_lutonium/pseuds/P_lutonium
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Don't worry, I'm used to being used and then discarded, or did you forget that? Too busy shagging your now fiancée. I loved you." </p><p>Emma knows she's making a mistake, Henry can se the exact same thing. So why can't Regina?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Don't

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own OUAT or any of it's characters- although if I did then SwanQueen would totally be canon... Eye Sex people!
> 
> Authors Note: It was very late at night- or early in the morning- when I wrote this. It just kind of occurred to me, and I had the urge to write a one-shot about this... Anyway, any grammatical errors are my own, this is unbeta'd and written when I was very tired. I've been through it a couple of times, but I've probably missed a lot. 
> 
> Originally it wasn't going to end like it does, and it's probably a bit brief, but there's always room for a sequel or whatever. I'm open for all criticisms, anything to help me improve.

 

An invitation sat on the second hand oak coffee table in Emma's living room. The envelope, crafted out of what she knew to be expensive stationary, hung open, and a thick card poked out from inside. It was a card that Emma had spent hours looking at, trying to work out what it mean.

She knew of course, she knew exactly what it meant, and by now she knew the words off by heart.

**Regina Mills and Robin of Locksley**

**Cordially invite you to witness the exchanging of vows.**

_15th June 2015_

_Storybrooke chapel._

_RSVP_

The invitation had been sat there for three weeks, and not a day had passed that Emma hadn't sent it a withering glare, she despised the awful thing. The whole idea of a wedding had her stomach churning with the threat of throwing up her breakfast, it wouldn't be the first time.

She couldn't do anything about it though, because as much as she hated the fact, she had fought too damn hard for Reginas' happy ending, and she couldn't take that away, no matter her own feelings. 

It was a battle, one she had been fighting for a long time. Emma couldn't win, winning meant that Regina lost, and she couldn't do that to her, not now. Not when she'd seen how happy the woman was. 

Emma knew that even a blind person would be able to see the brunettes' smile from miles away. The way her eyes would shine as she fixed them onto her fiancée. She wouldn't destroy that, she couldn't destroy the thing that made Regina look like it was Christmas and her birthday all rolled into one everyday of the year. 

The whole engagement had happened rather quickly, three or four months after the second curse. No one had expected it, but there was a party nonetheless, because fairy tale characters seemed to have a deep passion for throwing parties. The whole ordeal was elaborate and over the top, but the happy couple had embraced it with open arms.

Much like the whole town had embraced the reformed Evil Queen. They knew what she'd done for the town, giving up Henry and her happiness for the good of her people. 

Emma's phone buzzed on the counter top, snapping her out of her thoughts and having her scrambling to answer before it rung out.

"Sherriff Swan." She answered quickly, settling onto the back of her sofa, still glaring down the envelope.

"Afternoon Miss Swan" Regina replied on the other end. She sounded tired and worn, which surprised Emma fully because only that morning had she been cheerily talking to Henry about his role in the wedding.

Emma's heart fluttered in her chest, and she tried to stamp down the feeling. "What can I do for you Regina?" She asked, frowning at her attire, even though the Mayor had no way of knowing what she was wearing. "Is everything okay?"

"Of course it is" she snapped back, after a moment of tense silence she sighed, "I'm sorry, that was out of order. I'm just extremely stressed right now." 

Had someone told her a year ago that Regina Mills would be openly apologising to her, then Emma would had laughed in their face or locked them up for such absurdity, now-a-days it was becoming surprisingly common. "Anything I can do?" She offered, already reaching for her jeans that lay across the arm of the sofa. 

She glanced around the modest apartment, quite life the loft in size. Not for the first time she thought back to the day she make the decision to move out of the loft apartment, she now had her own space without hovering parents and younger brother. She also had a spare bedroom for Henry when it was her week to have him. 

"I wouldn't say no to a chicken salad" Regina murmured down the line, bending her voice just so. 

"Cool, I'll see you in twenty" she replied before her brain could catch up. "See you in a moment Regina." She hung up before Regina could reply, shoving the iPhone into the pocket of her jeans, the ones she had somehow managed to pour herself into one handed. Emma slipped on a pair of shoes and grabbed her jacket before jogging out of her apartment and to her little yellow car. 

Only ten minutes later, half of the time she had promised Regina, was she knocking on Reginas' office door and being called inside. 

Emma wandered in, looking anywhere but the gorgeous brunette. "Chicken Salad" she offered, holding up a plastic bag she had stolen from Granny's on the way over. "How's your day been? 

"Busy" Regina smiled, but it was fake and Emma knew it. "You?"

"Not so." She approached the desk and withdrew a take out container of chicken Salad, taking a seat on the chair opposite Regina and removing her own meal of a grilled cheese sandwich. "David's working, I was on nights." 

Regina nodded, twisting the ring on her finger. Emma's stomach followed it. "I'm getting married tomorrow" she whispered softly. "And you won't be there."

" _Regina_ " Emma breathed, preparing herself to stand up. “We’ve talked about this Regina. You know why I can't be there. I'm sorry."

"I want you there Emma, I want my best friend at my own wedding."

Emma stood, "coming here was a mistake. Enjoy your lunch." She rewrapped her sandwich, fighting tears as she walked purposefully towards the door. "Congratulations Regina." 

"I'm sorry Emma!" Regina called, her chair making an odd sound as she stood. "I'm sorry it didn't work out between us!"

The blonde shook her head to clear away the tears. "You slept with another man Regina, that's why it didn't work." She knew what the brunette was going to protest next, "you didn't even _try_. You slept with Robin whilst you were with me." 

"We had an arangement Miss Swan!" Regina snapped back.

Emma whirled around furiously, " _You_  had an agreement with yourself. I was just pulled along for the ride." She paused for a few moments to settle her temper, "Don't worry, I'm used to being used and then discarded, or did you forget that? Too busy shagging your now  _fiancée._ I _loved_ you." 

With a flick of her wrist, which was becoming far easier now that she'd been practicing, the saviour vanished in a plume of white smoke, leaving the Mayor with her jaw dropped open and heart thudding at the sudden confession.

***

Emma woke the next day and had barely enought time to dash to her bathroom before she was throwing up the Grilled Cheese from lunch yesterday. 

She wanted to be able to claim that she had brushed off her abrupt admission, but in truth she'd been so affected that even Henry noticed when he arrived back from school at half three. She'd spoken to him briefly about school, and other things, but they hadn't mentioned the impending wedding.

Henry knew why it was affecting his blonde mother, because it was affecting him too. He knew his mother well enough to know that she wouldn't be happy with Robin, but he knew he wouldn't win an agruement about it, because Emma was aparently as blind as Regina was regarding the true happy ending Regina was searching for. 

He was observant enough to know that the smile that Emma saw was reserved for only herself and him, she never smiled like that at Robin, and he suspected that she only loved Robin because he was the easy option.

"Ma? You okay?" Henry called for the other side of the bathroom door. 

"I'm okay Henry" she replied quietly, but she didn't sound convinced and Henry had picked up her lie detector trait and the alarm bells in his head were being set off. 

Henry shuffled from one slipped foot to the other. "Is it because of the wedding?" He guessed.

"She's getting married today" Emma murmured, opening the door after flushing the toilet. "I told her I loved her yesterday."

His eyes bugged in his head, "you told her? Ma! What did she say?" 

"I left before she could say anything. I've seen enough rejection to be able to piece together what would have followed." She looked down at her son, playfully ruffling his chocolate hair in an attempt to lighten the sullen mood. "You need to get dressed kid, I'll be dropping you off soon." 

"I don't want to go Ma!" He protested, not for the first time. "I don't want to watch her make a mistake." 

Emma sighed, "this is her happy ending Henry. And if she wants you to give her away then I can't stand in the way. She doesn't love me, and I won’t pretend I’m fine with that, but I’m working on it.  Look at it this way,  you'll be finally getting a father." 

"I don't need a father when I have you and Mom." He grumbled stubbornly, peering up at her with those round puppy eyes. "Are you sure I have to go?"

"Yes!" She confirmed, pushing him towards his bedroom. "I'll have breakfast ready." 

***

Emma sat in her bug at the end of Reginas' path, watching Henry knock on the door to 108 Mifflin street from the saftey of her car. Regina herself answered, and Emma's heart jumped traitorously at the sight of Regina in a silken robe with her hair piled elegantly on her head. 

As Henry slipped inside, Regina remained stood on her porch looking blatantly at the yellow car on the road outside her property. They maintained eye contact for a long moment, but when Regina opened her mouth to call out Emma started the engine (and thankfully it started first try) and drove away from the street as quickly as the little car would take her. 

Unwilling to drive through the town and have to witness the decorations that had been set up, because despite it being Storybrooke in the real world, and despite Regina not being the Queen anymore, it was apparently still a royal wedding and would be treated as such.

The detour took her almost half an hour longer, but finally she made it home, just in time to throw up her breakfast and then crawl into bed, boots and all. 

***

She couldn't remember falling asleep, but apparently she had, and her sleep was interrupted by her phone buzzing. The time read half eleven, and Emma assumed that the wedding would be in full swing right now, so she wondered who could be calling her because she was the only person that she knew who wasn't attending the wedding, and she’d been there when Regina had gone through the RSVP’s. 

Caller ID told her it was her mother, and so, slightly panicked, she tapped answer and brought the device to her ear. "Mom?" 

"Emma" Snow sighed, she almost sounded relieved. "Where are you?" 

"At home, why?" She sat up, rubbing the reminants of sleep from her eyes. "Is something wrong?" 

The other end was slightly quiet, "no, it's just-" 

"Hang on, there's someone at the door." She took the phone from her ear to listen out, and someone knocked again, "If it's not urgent I'll call you back.” She waited for Snow’s reply for a moment, when it didn’t come she continued, “have fun, Bye." 

She barely heard Snows parroted reply before she hit hang up and tossed the phone onto the bed, jumping out of it and walking into the living room and towards the door. She checked in the mirror besides it to make herself presentable, he clicked the lock and swung the door open.

Emma choked on air, trying to form a coherent word, because Regina was here. On her doorstep. Dressed in an impeccable wedding dress, looking insanely beautiful, like a model out of a catalogue. She’d seen Regina wearing the dress before, she’d been roped into choosing it, but somehow this was different. Finally she formed a scentence, "the chapels that way" she pointed East. 

"I couldn't do it." She gasped, "I couldn't marry Robin. I thought he was my happy ending, I thought I would be able to settle down with him. I loved him, but I wasn't in love with him." Regina was the same height as her in the White heels she wore with the dress, and she looked Emma straight in the eye. "I missed it, I missed what was right in front of me. I already had my happy ending, I didn't need Robin."

"He was the easy option, he loved me, he was loyal. He told me everything I needed to hear. He was there. Emma, I won't make excuses, or I will, but they hold no power. I screwed you over. Big time, and it took a brash admission and a lecture from our son to realise what I had in front of me." Regina had tiny crystalline droplets rolling down her cheeks now, streaking the foundation she was wearing, "I'm _in_  love with you Emma, and I have been for a long time, I was just too scared to admit."

She wiped furiously at her face, "it was never my intention to use and discard you Emma, but I'm no good at loving. You've had a crap life, because of me. And I know I played your heart, at least, I do now. And I promise never to do it again." Regina chuckled humourlessly, "I was so keen to have a family that I missed the one that was right in front of me. We have a son, a beautiful smart son who was man enough to tell me that I didn't love Robin the way that I should, that I was cheating all of us."

"I didn't sleep with Robin that night you know. I wouldn't, I couldn't. I couldn't sleep with him and then come back to you, it's like comparing cheap shop brought cider to a good glass of homemade cider, once you've had one the other is no where near as nice. He's the shop brought  to your homemade. I know I might have overstepped my mark, I know I don’t deserve a second chance, but please, forgive me Emma."

Emma couldn't move a limb, her mouth floundered open and shut. "No, no, no, no!" She finally tore herself away, storming into the apartment, sending a rampant fireball at the invitation on the table as she went. "Don't do that to me Regina, please, don't do that."

"Emma, I love you."

"I know" she admitted, trying to hide the hitch in her breath and the jump in her chest. All the walls she’d been rebuilding were tumbling like home’s in an earthquake. "I know, I love you too." 

For a woman in killed heels and a wedding dress she moved quickly, and was at Emma's side in moments, capturing her chin and holding it steady as their lips joined in a hungry kiss, that they would have continued had it not been for the blinding flash that spread across the room, through the walls and no doubt throughout Storybrooke.

Regina gasped, hands curling around Emma's neck, she pulled back slightly. “You _are_ my happy ending.

She didn’t even have to think about her reply, because the words had long been formed on her lips.

"Forever.” 

 

**Author's Note:**

> How was it? Please comment and leave kudos :) I love hearing how I can improve, so don't worry about being too harsh.


End file.
